


Everything In-Between

by MeganRosenberg



Category: Parks and Recreation
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Attempted Sexual Assault, Drama, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sexual Assault, Toxic Relationships, Violence, ron and tammy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-10 23:36:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11702217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganRosenberg/pseuds/MeganRosenberg
Summary: Tammy Swanson (aka Tammy Two) runs into Ron at a bar and tries to make him jealous by making out with two strangers who take her flirtatious behavior more seriously than she intended. Her plan to make Ron notice her backfires in a very frightening, traumatizing way, which leads to Ron and Tammy having a normal conversation for once.





	1. Chapter 1

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CHAPTER 1

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This night had started off like many others, with Tammy sitting alone at a bar and feeling a little less than enthused about the current state of her life. She had less than great days now and then and enjoyed having a few drinks at the end of them to make herself feel a little less alone in this cold, cruel world. Today had been one of those less than great days.

Tammy knew it would be more cost-efficient to just drink at home. She wasn't really even talking to anyone at the bar anyway... but something about being literally alone, surrounded by silence, all by herself made her sad. She missed being with people in a meaningful way. She didn't really have any close friends and any boyfriends she dated were just a way to get back at her ex. Her relationships with other human beings right now were so shallow that it hurt.

She sipped at her drink and looked around the bar, observing everyone else. At least other people were having a good time. She watched a few younger women giggle in the corner as they looked across the room at a group of younger men and whispered to each other - probably daring each other to go up and talk to them. Tammy smiled for a half-second. She wished she could feel that excited about anyone other than Ron. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't move on. She and Ron were magical. Anything less than him wasn't enough. If she went after anyone else, it seemed like a waste of her time and a lie to the person she was only pursuing with half of her heart in it.

She looked around some more, noticing two men attempting and failing to flirt with a couple women who Tammy was pretty sure were lesbians. She'd seen the two ladies kissing earlier tonight, but the men didn't seem able to take a hint. She smiled for longer this time, happy to see she wasn't the only one around here coveting someone who was off-limits.

As she continued letting her eyes roam over all the people in the room, her breath caught in her throat. Over near the bar was a man sitting all alone, looking just as dejected as she felt... He stared down at a half-empty glass and wasn't talking to anyone else at the bar. He looked lonely and sad... and she knew this man. It was none other than her ex, the man she was still madly in love with, Ron Swanson.

Tammy swallowed a lump in her throat as she stared across the bar at him. He looked kind of melancholy... Maybe it would be a good time for her to make a move... If he was already feeling down, he'd be more likely to make what he considered a poor choice and come back to her. Tammy knew full well that Ron was most likely to fall for her again when he was at his lowest, and he looked pretty low right now.

Biting her lower lip, Tammy stood, straightened out her dress, and shrugged out of her jacket. She wanted to look as appealing to him as she could. Ron sometimes responded well to her wearing purposefully revealing attire. Her work-dress and flat shoes weren't exactly what she considered the best outfit for picking up men, but they'd have to do. She didn't have the time or resources to change. She tugged her dress down a bit to show off as much cleavage as possible, re-positioned her breasts a bit, and quickly ran her fingers through her hair. She was absolutely not prepared for this, but Ron seemed easily charmed by her on certain occasions, so maybe she'd manage to snag him anyway.

Carefully and slowly, she made her way over toward him. Her heart was pounding in her chest. What if he rejected her? He did that a lot, but it still hurt so bad every time. She couldn't understand why he didn't want to be with her. Tammy knew their relationship was all kinds of messed up, but it was wonderful at the same time. The passionate, raw emotion each of them were able to express to each other was beautiful. Sometimes she scared him, and she knew that, but he scared her too, and she loved that about him.

As she got almost close enough to touch him, Tammy paused. She needed to get his attention and try not to scare him off at the same time... She didn't want to come right out and ask anything of him. She had to make it seem like she wasn't approaching him on purpose. If Ron felt like she was being aggressive, it would build up his defenses immediately. Tammy exhaled slowly. She had to play it cool, but she was never one for subtlety, so she dramatically pretended to trip and fell right into him.

"Oh! Excuse me!" She giggled in the sweetest voice she could muster as she fell into his lap. "I can barely walk in these shoes!" She laughed, glancing down at her feet and frowning slightly when she remembered that she wasn't wearing heels.

She felt warm and happy as Ron put his hands on her waist, but he only did so long enough to pick her up and put her back on her feet. "Tammy, don't do this." He scowled at her and moved his hands away from her just as soon as she was standing on her own again.

Tammy pouted for a half-second before faking surprise. "Ron?!" She giggled and put her hand on his arm. "I didn't even see you there! I had no idea you even still came here... What a coincidence that I'd just so happen to bump into you. What are the chances, right? How have you been?"

"Fine until this exact moment, Tammy," he grumbled back to her with a frown as he swatted her hand away from his arm.

"Aw... What's wrong? Bad day?" She continued playing nice as she moved her hand up to his cheek, put her fingertips lightly against his face and leaned forward so that he could get a good look at her cleavage.

"You're what's wrong, Tammy," Ron growled as he gripped her hand in his own and pulled it away from himself again. "You're like a festering wound eating away at my soul. Every time I think I've found a cure to get you away from me, you just come right back. Looking at you makes me want to pour acid in my eyes. Hearing you makes me want to take a power-drill to my ears. Every time I see you or even feel your presence, it kills me. I think it literally shaves years off of my life just being in the same room as you."

"Oh... Looking at you kills me too." Tammy continued attempting to create her own meaning out of his words as she sat down on the edge of his table and crossed her legs, purposefully allowing her dress to ride up her thigh as she reached out and grabbed his hand. "You and I are really something-"

"No, Tammy," Ron interrupted, pulling his hand away from her. "There's no you and I. There's no we. I'm not being metaphorical. Looking at you literally kills me. The sight of you makes my organs begin to shut down. I'm not interested in you, Tammy. I don't want to be with you. We're not together now; we won't be together later. It's not happening. We're nothing. You're nothing."

Tammy frowned. This always happened... She tried to be nice, tried to be different from how she was... but as soon as Ron started expressing anger toward their past, it was hard for her to want to change. Why should she be nice to him if he wasn't going to make any effort to be nice back? It made her want to be mean too. "You're nothing, Ron," she growled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "You seem to have misinterpreted what I'm doing right now. I'm not asking to get back together with you," she lied. "I just happened to trip and stumble into you. I didn't even know you were here tonight. Nobody's happier than I am that our so-called relationship is over. You were lucky to be with me, and even more lucky I keep giving you so many chances you don't deserve. I could do so much better, and you know it."

"Then go. Go do better, Tammy." Ron scowled at her. "I'm sure there are lots of men out there who don't mind being with a disease-ridden demon."

"I'm sure there are." She frowned and slid off the table. Lots of people did want to be with her. She rejected more people than Ron would ever know, because she only wanted to be with him. She looked around the bar, spotting the two guys still trying to hit on the lesbians. They seemed like an easy target. Tammy was good at figuring out which men would be most likely willing to make out with a stranger, and those guys looked to be the perfect pawns for the game they didn't realize they were going to be a part of.

Narrowing her eyes and standing up straight, she threw her hair over her shoulder and walked away from Ron and toward the two creeps attempting to flirt with the women so clearly not interested in them, all while she continued pretending to not be at all interested in her ex anymore. She could show him how many other men would be thrilled to be with her. It would be easy.

She walked up to them in time to hear a rather pathetic attempt at flirting. "Maybe you two could come outside for a smoke?" one of the men suggested to the women they were completely failing to win over.

"We don't smoke." The blonde one frowned at him.

"I do," Tammy spoke up behind them.

One of the guys looked over his shoulder at her. "Hey." He smirked, apparently liking what he saw as he turned away from the women he and his friend had been harassing and looked Tammy up and down.

"Hi." Tammy flirted back. These guys seemed like the opposite of what she was looking for in a man - they were smug and pretentious... but they would do well serving the purpose she needed them for. It didn't matter which guy made Ron jealous - just as long as someone did.

"I'm Max," The one who had turned around first spoke. "This is my brother Charlie." He gestured toward the other man.

"Tammy," she said back with what she hoped was an alluring smirk. "Want to get a booth?" she suggested.

"Yeah." Max's eyes brightened and he led her over to an empty booth. She slid into the seat next to Max and his brother sat down on her other side.

"You're beautiful, Tammy," Charlie told her as he put his arm around her shoulders. "You know that?"

Tammy shrugged as she leaned against Charlie and glanced toward Ron across the bar. He seemed to be trying to ignore her, but she did notice he occasionally looked her way. Charlie's compliment didn't really make her feel one way or another. She knew these guys were just horny and she wasn't really interested anyway. They were both pretty forward, but it worked in her favor at the moment, so she didn't mind.

"I like your necklace, Tammy," Max spoke as he looked down at her cleavage. There was a necklace there too, but she doubted he was really paying that much attention to it.

"Thanks. So, Wayne, do you and your brother mind sharing? You're both pretty cute, so I can give you both attention if you don't mind my attention being split." Tammy smirked up at Max.

"It's Max... not Wayne..." he corrected, but didn't seem that bothered. "We don't mind sharing. Right, Charlie?" He looked so excited as he looked over Tammy and at his brother. "Just as long as we take turns... We're not into three-ways." He laughed nervously. "I mean, he's my brother..."

"Of course." Tammy laughed and leaned up, kissing him lightly on the lips and looking across the room at Ron, who was staring right back toward them, just like she wanted. She couldn't help but to smile slightly as she climbed up onto Max's lap, straddling him as she kissed him more passionately. She felt his hands running up and down her sides and over her breasts. She didn't really care for it, but if it made Ron jealous, it was worthwhile.

She continued kissing him as he ran his hand over her thigh, pushing his fingers up under her dress. She put her hand on his and pushed it back down. She was fine getting closer to this random guy than she really wanted to, but it had to stay over her clothes. Tammy wasn't exactly shy about these things, but she preferred to save the good stuff for when it mattered more.

Tammy glanced over her shoulder and noticed Ron still looking her way. He appeared to be trying to seem uninterested, but she could tell what she was doing was killing him. He had a way about him where he almost always looked somewhat angry, but she knew him well enough to tell when he truly was...

"Mmm, Wayne." She raised her voice as she let him kiss her up and down her throat. She swatted his hands away when he tried to push them up under her dress again and then leaned back and kissed Charlie as well. The nastier this got, the more likely Ron would feel jealous enough to do something about it.

As she kissed Charlie, she felt his hands on her waist, moving up over her chest as his brother's hands continued fighting with her to make their way up her thighs. Between kisses, she could see Charlie giving his brother an incredulous look. She could tell that the two brothers were silently communicating - probably conveying to each other that they couldn't believe how crazy this random woman they just met was. People often felt that way about her. They always looked at her like they thought she was insane, but it never stopped them from enjoying that aspect of her anyway. The same people who stared at her like she was an alien didn't seem to have a problem making out with her.

"How drunk are you?" Charlie laughed nervously as he moved his hands over her body.

Tammy shrugged. She really wasn't all that intoxicated. She didn't need alcohol to help her do stupid things. If anything, drinking made her less intense. To these guys, she seemed like she was out of her mind right now, but they didn't know her. They didn't know that this was her normal. They didn't know they were her pawns and that this was all for Ron.

"Excuse me." One of the waiters cleared his throat as he stood next to the table and stared down at them with a disappointed frown. "You're going to need to tone it down, guys."

Tammy scoffed and rolled her eyes. "This is a bar. Who cares? We're all adults here."

"You're making people uncomfortable. We're not that kind of bar." The waiter scowled back.

"Let's go back to our place," Charlie suggested. He sounded out of breath.

Tammy frowned. That was worthless. If Ron couldn't see what she was doing, she might as well not do it. She didn't care about being with Charlie or Max. They weren't impressive. They didn't excite her. They weren't even her type. If she couldn't use them to make Ron jealous, she didn't need them at all.

"We'll tone it down," Tammy promised, putting her hand on the back of Max's head and leaning against his chest. She was still sitting on his lap, with her legs straddling his.

"You can't have a three-way in here. So tone it down completely, or go someplace else," the waiter continued. He must not have believed she was capable of anything other than complete insanity, and of course she knew he was well aware of her reputation. She'd been here with Ron before - both when they were together and when they weren't. Any time the two of them were in the same room, most other people present never forgot them afterward.

"Let's just go, sweetheart," Max spoke to her as he ran his hand through her hair. "We've got an apartment nearby. It'll take us ten minutes to walk there. Then we can do anything we want."

Sighing, Tammy stood up. She supposed she could at least leave the bar with them so Ron might see her going and so that he'd have all sorts of possibilities plaguing his mind, but she didn't want to actually go with them. "Come on." She gestured for the two men to follow. What kind of weird brothers wanted to both have sex with the same woman?

With her two horny pawns following her, she made her way toward the door, being sure to look over her shoulder at Ron before exiting. He was definitely still watching and he didn't really look happy as Max put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. She smirked, looked away, and walked outside.

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	2. Chapter 2

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CHAPTER 2

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Once she was outside of the bar, Tammy felt immediately cold. The weather had been nicer this afternoon, but seemed to have dropped ten or fifteen degrees while she was inside drinking. She shivered as she casually shrugged out of Max's arm around her and took a few quick steps to distance herself from the two men. She'd left her jacket in the bar and couldn't exactly go back for it now after her dramatic exit. She wrapped her arms around herself and looked out over the parking lot. She couldn't wait to get into her car and turn the heat all the way up.

"I'm just going to call it a night, guys," she said as she turned around and looked at the two brothers who looked expectantly back. "It was nice meeting you." She shrugged and started toward her car. She was probably a bit over the legal limit to drive, but she didn't really care. She wasn't that drunk and she had made it home driving herself before when she had had a lot more to drink. She'd be fine.

"Wait!" Max called after her and grabbed her by her wrist, pulling her back a little rougher than necessary.

Tammy frowned as she stumbled back a step and turned to face him. "Sorry, Wayne. I'm going home. Maybe I'll see you around."

"No." Max frowned down at her. "You're kidding me, right? You've got to be fucking joking..."

Tammy shook her head and shrugged. "Nope. Not really joking around with you, Wayne. I'm heading home."

"You can't," Max squeezed her arm tighter in his fist. He was really starting to piss her off at this point, but she'd clearly pissed him off too judging by his grip and tone. "What was all that in there?" he growled. "Is this game to you? Leading guys on for no reason just so you can reject them? You're just going to call it done just like that? After you were all over me?"

"You were all over me," Tammy countered, pulling her arm out of his grip and shoving her other hand against his chest. "I changed my mind. I'm allowed to do that. Sorry." She shrugged and turned back toward the parking lot.

"Are you fucking crazy?" Max growled as he grabbed her again.

Tammy winced as he pulled her back by her arm. A lot of people had asked her if she was crazy over the years. He wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last. That didn't mean she liked people saying stuff like that about her though. She also wasn't fond of him grabbing her so roughly.

"Get off of me!" Tammy demanded as she struggled to pull her arm out of his grip.

"You can't just lead people on like that and walk away." Max continued as he dragged her back toward the side of the building.

"I can do whatever I want," Tammy growled back, but couldn't shrug out of his grip this time. "Let go of me," she demanded again.

Max offered a laugh that sounded more angry than amused. "You come on strong, sweetheart. You can't do that to people," he told her as his grip tightened while he roughly pulled her along. He was literally dragging Tammy into the alley at this point, as she was squirming in his grip and not doing a thing to help him corner her any more than he already had.

She shook her head as she started to feel somewhat panicked the further he dragged her and the harder his hands on her squeezed. There was no longer anything in this for her. She was no longer interested. "No!" she insisted and tried again to pull away as he dragged her further into an alley. "Let go of me!" She shoved her free hand against his chest until he grabbed her forearm in a strong fist and held it down.

"Stop fighting me," Max demanded as his grip only seemed to tighten around her arms. "You wanted this two minutes ago."

Tammy winced as she tried once again to get free, which only resulted in Max's rough hands increasing their harsh grip as he forced her further into the poorly-lit space. "Get off of me, you son of a bitch!" she growled, feeling her anger quickly turning into fear.

"Max..." Charlie spoke up as he followed his brother into the alley. "Let's just go back in. She said no."

"After she practically begged for it!" Max scoffed as he pushed Tammy roughly up against the brick wall of the alleyway. "She's a fucking tease. She owes us... Not just me - you too. Aren't you frustrated right now? Don't you fucking hate it when girls do this to you, Charlie?"

"Well, yeah." Charlie frowned and shifted from one foot to the other as he looked from his brother's eyes to Tammy's. "But there's no law against being a tease... You can't make her-"

"Yes we can," Max interrupted. He glanced toward his brother and then looked down at Tammy, who he had pretty well crushed against the wall by this point. "Come on, baby... You were having so much fun in there. I could tell you were excited. You're gonna love this."

Tammy shook her head and pulled at her trapped arms. "Get the hell off of me!" she demanded again. Though her voice dripped with anger, it also shook slightly. As much as she knew she was often able to get her way by scaring people into listening to her, this guy didn't seem scared of her. She was kind of scared of him though. He let go of one of her arms and moved his hand down to her thigh, pushing her dress up similarly to how he had been inside the bar. "Stop!" She ordered him as she moved her free hand down to attempt to push his hand off of her leg.

"Hold still." Max breathed into her ear as he leaned in close and pushed his hand further up her thigh, completely ignoring her hand attempting to pry his off of her. She wasn't finding it as easy to shove his hand away this time. He must not have put his full strength into it back inside.

With a frustrated whimper, Tammy continued trying to wriggle free of his grip. He was strong, and his hands were large and forceful. She looked past his shoulder toward his brother, who stood a few feet away, looking somewhat uncomfortable. "Get him off of me!" she demanded. She could tell Charlie wasn't as comfortable doing this as his brother was.

"Come on, Max. Stop..." Charlie suggested, but didn't move to actually make his brother listen. "There are lots of other girls in there. We can find some that want to be with us."

"Yeah? Every time we do, they end up being a fucking tease like this one," Max growled as he squeezed her arm tight in his fist and finally managed to grip the material of her underwear in his other hand. Under her dress, he started tugging at the thin material of her panties as he tried to pull them down her legs.

Tammy cried out a pitiful, panicked gasp as she tried and failed to push his hand away. "No! Stop!" she cried, looking desperately around the alley. Music from the bar was loud enough that no one who may have otherwise been within earshot seemed to hear her. Even so, she could think of nothing else to do other than to scream. "Help! Somebody help me!" she sobbed.

"Shut her up," Max growled. "You're gonna be in just as much trouble for this as I am if we're caught," he threatened his brother.

Charlie's eyes widened, but he seemed to believe his brother, because he rushed over and put his hand over Tammy's mouth to silence her without so much as a second thought. "Shhh..." he urged as he put his other hand lightly on Tammy's shoulder before looking back toward his brother. "We shouldn't do this, Max." He shook his head. "Let's just let her go... You won't say anything to the police, right? If we let you go?" he asked as he looked down at Tammy.

Tammy shook her head, indicating that she'd keep quiet. Tears were pooling in her eyes and she felt herself shaking.

"I'm not done yet. We'll let her go when I'm done." Max disagreed.

Tammy whimpered a muffled cry and brought her free hand up to Charlie's in an attempt to pry it off of her face so she could scream again. Charlie gripped her wrist in his free hand and continued to hold his other hand rather hard over her face. His brother continued attempting to pull her underwear down her thighs, but was fortunately having some trouble doing so with only one of his hands available to do it. Tammy squirming as best as she could wasn't doing him any favors either.

Charlie looked frantic, but not nearly as frantic as Tammy felt as he stood up close to his brother and Tammy and continued silencing her with his hard hand pressed firmly over the bottom half of her face. He seemed very conflicted about whose side he was on, as he continuously asked his brother to stop what he was doing, but was also helping him hold her down and keep her quiet.

With her arms both pinned down securely, she had only the limited use of her legs to work with. Max was standing pretty close, trapping her in place against the wall, but she still had a bit of freedom to move her legs, so she stomped down on Max's foot, which caused him to move back just enough to give her room to bring her knee up between his legs, hitting him where it would hurt him most.

Max groaned and stumbled back, but Charlie still held onto her, and because of this, the few moments she would have been granted by throwing Max off were wasted. Instead of making a run for it, she was stuck attempting to shrug out of Charlie's grip. For some reason, even though he seemed to want his brother to let her go, he was still holding her down. She couldn't afford the risk of asking him to let go and waiting for his response. She had to get herself away from these men immediately. She balled her now-free hand into a fist and slammed it up against his jaw as hard as she could.

And that was the moment Charlie decided he was in no way on her side of this situation anymore. As soon as she hit him, he glared down at her with dark, hate-filled eyes, raised his own hand up, and hit her back, knocking his fist against her cheek so that she stumbled back and landed on the ground with a pained wince.

"I was fucking trying to help you, Tammy!" he growled as he followed her down to the ground, grabbing both of her wrists in one of his hands and crushing them painfully against the concrete floor of the alleyway as he climbed on top of her and held her down.

Tammy groaned in pain and decided to start screaming again. "Heeeelllp!" she called as loud as she could. "Help me! Heeeelllp!" she screamed over and over, until Charlie slapped her across the face and clamped his hand down over her mouth.

"Don't fucking scream. I was trying to help you," Charlie repeated and shook his head as he glared down at her. "I was trying to make sure he didn't hurt you. I was trying to convince him to let you go... Even after you led me on and then decided to leave out of nowhere... I was respecting your right to change your fucking mind, even though it was bullshit. And after all that you hit me?"

Tammy whimpered under his hand. What the hell had he expected her to do?

"I try to do the right thing, and I get punched for it anyway," Charlie growled as he moved his hand off of her mouth and began groping at her chest. "Don't give me any credit for being decent? Maybe I should just stop being decent then," he spoke in a low voice as he leaned down closer and ran his hand down over her side and onto her thigh.

"Stop!" Tammy screamed as he pushed his hand over the inside of her thigh, up under her dress. She desperately pulled at her trapped wrists and tried to thrash her legs under him. "Don't touch me! Stop!" she cried again.

"This is what you wanted, you slut," Charlie's formerly timid voice was now full of rage. "I tried being nice. You didn't appreciate it, so fuck you." He finally let go of her wrists and moved both of his hands down to her thighs, trying to pry them apart.

"No!" Tammy gasped and moved her now-free hands down toward his. No matter how hard she fought, Charlie was significantly stronger than she was. She couldn't push his hands away. "Please don't! I'm sorry!" she whimpered in a trembling voice when she realized begging for mercy might be her only chance. "I'm sorry I hit you. Charlie, please..." She could hear her voice shaking as her short breaths shook in her chest. To her surprise, Charlie paused for a moment, staring down into her eyes. He seemed to be waiting for further explanation, so she kept going. "I was just scared..." She inhaled and exhaled a few more shaking breaths and tried to ignore the fact that his hands were still gripping her thighs under her dress, in a much more intimate way than she was comfortable with. "You were still holding me down. I was scared..." she repeated. "I shouldn't have hit you. I'm sorry," she repeated.

Charlie's mouth twitched as stared down at her. "I wasn't hurting you," he reminded her with a scowl.

"But he was... and you were holding me down for him. I panicked... I'm sorry." Tammy's voice shook and she swallowed a lump in her throat. "Please let me go," she asked again as she carefully pushed her hands against his forearms, trying to shove them off of her legs without being too forceful. When he only pushed his hands further up her thighs in response, Tammy whimpered and tried to scramble away.

As she squirmed away from him, Charlie grabbed out at her arm and pulled her back.

"No!" She screamed and shoved her other hand against his chest. "Somebody help!" She cried out once again, prompting Charlie to finally let go of her thigh and slap his hand back over her mouth. She felt herself shaking as she pulled her legs closer together and squeezed her eyes shut. She was so used to manipulating men to get what she wanted. None of them had ever turned on her quite like this.

"Let's just have her give us each a blowjob and call it even," Max suggested with a frustrated exhale as he walked up next to them and loomed over her. Tammy opened her eyes and tried to shrink down as she looked past Charlie's shoulder at his brother. He seemed to have recovered from her knee to the crotch attack pretty quickly. "I'm kinda getting sick of this fast, and this little bitch has got a lot more fight in her than I expected... but she owes us," he continued. "How about it, sweetheart? Be good, don't scream, just suck my dick, then his, and we'll be done. It's a lot less than what I want - a lot less than you owe me. I won't even be rough, even though you deserve it."

Tammy shook her head as best as Charlie's hand over her face would allow. She felt tears spilling down her cheeks, catching on his fingers. She didn't want to do this. It was true that she was willing to do a whole hell of a lot of crazy shit to get Ron to notice her, but it always had to be on her terms. This had gone way too far.

"Come on, baby," Max persisted. "Just two quick blow jobs, and you can go... Keep fighting, and you're gonna get hurt. You can cooperate, or I can have Charlie hold you down and we'll do it the old-fashioned way... Over and over again until we get tired of you. If you make me fight for this any more than you already have, I'm not going to be gentle with you, babe."

She continued shaking her head no as Charlie pressed his hand hard over her mouth, crushing the back of her head painfully against the ground as he held her wrist against the concrete, with a large, rough hand. Tammy moved her other hand up towards her face, trying to pry Charlie's off of her so she could plead her case. She couldn't get him to budge.

"Get her up on her knees," Max ordered his brother. "You're gonna want to go along with this sweetheart," he threatened Tammy as Charlie dragged her up off the ground enough to position her on her knees. "Charlie, snap her fucking wrist if she tries anything," he asked of his brother. "And remember, babe, you scream or bite me, and this is gonna get a whole lot worse. I won't hurt you unless you make me. I never wanted to hurt you. You know that, right?"

As soon as she was off the ground, she began fighting back again. Threats or no threats, she wasn't going to just let these guys do this to her. "Let me go!" she demanded and attempted to stand before Charlie grabbed her arm in a crushing grip and twisted it painfully behind her, demonstrating the seriousness of his brother's threat. Tammy cried out in pain and fell slightly forward, but Charlie held onto her and dragged her back to her knees.

"Get off of me!" she cried out and squirmed in his grip. She was scared of their threats, but more scared of what would happen if she didn't keep fighting. Even as Charlie squeezed her arm and grabbed at her shoulder, leaving painful bruises with his hands, Tammy continued to try to stand. It wasn't until Max balled his hand into a fist and slammed it against her ribs that she finally stopped struggling.

She groaned and coughed as she doubled over in pain. Tammy would have put her hands over her stomach, but Charlie held firmly onto her arms. All she could do was choke out a pained wince and breathe in sharp breaths as she was once again hauled up to her knees. She could barely focus on anything but the pain in her ribs.

"Stop moving," Charlie demanded as he grabbed a fist-full of her hair in his hand and tugged it painfully back. Tammy whimpered and tried to force herself to hold still even though her instincts told her to fight back. These two were too strong for her to overpower, and she was honestly feeling extremely beaten down and defeated. She breathed in and out exhausted, pained breaths as she tried to keep herself upright on her own so that Charlie didn't pull at her hair any more than he already was. She had no choice but to do as they said.

Tammy shook and gasped for breaths as she knelt in front of Max and glanced down the alley, back toward the parking lot. There didn't seem to be anyone at all hanging out in or near the parking lot. It was too cold for anyone to linger outside for long. No one would hear her if she cried out for help. Screaming would probably do her no good at all, and would only result in Charlie or Max hurting her further. She didn't know what to do.

As she was forced to kneel in front of Max, with Charlie's crushing hands bruising her arms and his brother's threats echoing in her mind, it occurred to her that there was absolutely no way she was going to get out of this situation until these men were done with her. She was going to have to suffer through this, but would hopefully at least make it out alive. Her body felt frozen and her lungs overworked. She was shaking and was beginning to feel numbness spread through her, almost like she could pass out at any moment. She'd never felt so terrified in her entire life...

She choked out a pained, frightened sob and squeezed her eyes shut. If Charlie weren't gripping her arms, she probably would have fallen to the ground. She felt so defeated, and so stupid. These guys had seemed like creeps from the second she first spotted them. She knew better than to go outside alone with weird men... But she'd cared so much about making Ron jealous. That was certainly coming back to bite her now.

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	3. Chapter 3

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CHAPTER 3

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Ron frowned as he watched Tammy leaving with the two guys she'd seemingly just met. As she exited the bar, she smirked back at him, silently daring him to come after her. He knew exactly what she was doing. She was attempting to make him jealous. Unfortunately, she knew how good she was at it. It had certainly worked. He hated seeing those two guys kissing and groping all over her. She wanted him to feel jealous, and he really, really did, but Ron knew better than to let himself succumb to her tricks.

He had been feeling pretty down on himself these days, and even though he knew Tammy could have been a wonderful short-term solution to make his entire life into an exhilarating, intense ride, he also knew in the long-term, she could destroy him. He and Tammy both knew they weren't good for each other. Their relationship seemed to be best kept in the past. It had been a terrible, wonderful, passionate, insane thing. It wasn't something he was ever going to forget, but it was so damn unhealthy.

They weren't good for each other - no matter how good they made each other feel in certain moments. All the ridiculously intense passion in the world couldn't make up for the constant tension between them. When they weren't having wild sex, they were screaming at each other, throwing dishes, slamming doors, breaking windows... The passion was wonderful, but it went both ways. As much as they loved each other, they hated each other. As much as they wanted to put their hands all over each other in a loving, sexual way, they also wanted to hurt each other. That kind of toxic, hostile relationship wasn't good for either of them. Tammy wasn't good for Ron, but he wasn't good for her either. She made him crazy, and he couldn't quite blame that all on her.

Ron frowned as he stared at the front door of the bar. No matter how much he wanted to act like he didn't give a damn what she did or who she did, he knew he couldn't honestly bring himself to not care. He didn't want to be with her, but he didn't want anyone else to be with her either... because he knew he did want to be with her. He just couldn't convince himself it was a good idea - because it most certainly wasn't. Even so, he continued staring at the door, wondering what she was doing right now. It wasn't exactly a good idea for a woman to leave a bar with two strangers. Her choices were dangerous, and even more than Ron was jealous, he was worried that her insanity would one day get her hurt or killed.

Tammy was known to be a little crazy in terms of what sorts of things she'd do all to make a point. Ron knew it wasn't unreasonable to assume she might really go and have sex with two strangers just to make Ron feel jealous, but he also knew her well enough to know it was most likely all for show. She didn't care about those two men. She didn't honestly give a damn if she was with them or not. It was all for him, to show him how easy it was for her to draw in other men - to make him feel like he was nothing and she was everything. A part of him really did feel like she was everything. That was why it was so hard for him to let her go.

He stared at the door still, feeling somehow uneasy. Even though he knew Tammy could be pretty promiscuous, he couldn't help but to feel worried for her. The two guys she'd picked up with next to no effort had to have something wrong with them to agree to leave with her literally two minutes after they met. He also couldn't help but to notice when she was making a show of making out with them across the bar, she had kept pushing the one guy's hands away from her. She didn't want him touching her. She just wanted Ron to see what she was doing. The guy had clearly been more into her than she'd been into him.

He frowned when he considered this. Maybe she had left with them just to make Ron upset too. Maybe she wasn't interested in them at all. If she'd push their hands away from her even when she was within Ron's sight, surely she wouldn't want them all over her after she left... She would have probably promptly rejected them once Ron wasn't there to witness it... But what if they hadn't taken it well? They had certainly seemed interested in her, and if Ron knew anything about Tammy's affect on people, he knew it would be hard for them to just shrug it off and leave after she'd let them start getting excited.

As much as he wanted to not care, he honestly was a bit concerned for her sake. Tammy's choices were quite often dangerous to her own well-being. She did insane, crazy shit just to make a point. It wasn't far-fetched to expect that certain men might not be so patient with her when she used them for her own ridiculous schemes and then ultimately turned them down.

Sighing, he looked away from the door and back down at his drink. Tammy could take care of herself. She knew what she was doing. She didn't need him worrying about her, and he didn't need to weigh his mind down even thinking about what she was up to. It didn't matter. She was living her life, and it had nothing to do with him.

He glanced toward the door again. If she had rejected those guys once she got outside, they'd have probably come back in... but they hadn't come back in...

He knew it was a bad idea, but he couldn't stand just sitting here and wondering if she was okay. He could just pop outside for a minute, make sure she had gotten to her car - whether that meant she'd willingly gone home with these guys or not... and then once he was sure she was alright, he'd go back inside. It wouldn't mean that she had won - he still wasn't going to give in and crawl back to her - he was just doing what anyone would do if they saw a small, slightly drunk woman going outside with two weird men - just making sure nothing unsavory was happening. He'd have done it for anyone...

He stood from the table and made his way toward the door. As soon as he was outside, the crisp, cool air stung at his eyes. It didn't seem like anyone was out here, probably because it was pretty cold. He looked out at the parking lot, frowning when he saw Tammy's car was indeed still there. Maybe she did go home with the strange guys and they just took their car instead of hers. Ron frowned. He hated that Tammy still had this kind of control over him. Why should he care what she did? If she wanted to go have wild sex with two random men, that was her deal. He shouldn't care.

Shaking his head and rolling his eyes to himself, he turned back toward the bar's door. He had to let her go. He had to let her make her own weird choices. He couldn't keep her from doing risky things. It was her life, and he was no longer a part of it. It's what he had wanted.

He reached toward the door's handle, but paused when he heard a small sound coming from the alley. It sounded almost like someone crying. Ron frowned and let go of the door. It was probably just someone who got too drunk - some young kid with a fake ID freaking out about getting in trouble, or someone who broke up with their significant other... It was very likely none of his business, but he had to make sure this person was okay.

With a sigh, he stepped back from the door and walked toward the sound.

As soon as he was within view of what was going on in the alley, his mouth dropped open in shock. Sure enough, the two men Tammy had left with were there, as was she. Tammy was on her knees. Her eyes were squeezed shut and tears streamed down her face as she softly sobbed. One of the men stood behind her, gripping onto her arms, and seemed to be holding her up more than forcing her down. She looked like she could very well collapse if he weren't there keeping her upright. The other man stood in front of her and was in the process of unzipping his pants. She looked so small and vulnerable kneeling there between them, whimpering and shaking.

"Hey!" Ron growled as he rushed into the alley. He knew it wasn't necessarily a great idea to jump into this and attempt to fight off both of these men at once - they were each just as tall if not slightly taller than he was and had enough muscle to do some damage too. This could easily backfire, but seeing Tammy down on the ground, kneeling in front of them, trembling and crying, he couldn't bear to waste any time thinking this through.

Tammy inhaled a sharp breath and perked up at the sound of Ron's voice. Turning her head in his direction, she whimpered a soft cry and seemed to be trying to stand as Ron quickly made his way toward her and the men who seemed to be attempting to assault her. The guy gripping her arms pulled her back rather roughly, causing her to wince and choke out another pained sob.

"Do you mind?" the man standing in front of Tammy groaned as he grabbed at her chin and forcefully turned her face back toward him. "We're kinda in the middle of something here, man."

A look of desperation flashed through Tammy's eyes as she managed to shake the man's hand away from her face and looked back in Ron's direction. She didn't say anything, but was clearly in distress as she winced, inhaled and exhaled frantic, shaking breaths, and failed to hold back tears.

"Get off of her!" Ron demanded as he approached. He was ready to reach out and physically do what he could to force them to comply, but fortunately, the two men didn't appear to want a fight. It seemed they didn't feel so confident about fighting someone their own size. The man holding Tammy down by her arms let go of her and the other grumbled something under his breath and shoved her back before they both ran off. While Ron was tempted to run after them and kick their asses, he wanted more to go to Tammy's side.

With a quick breath, Ron knelt down next to Tammy, who had let herself fall down so that she was sort of slumped forward and sitting on her own feet. She brought her hands up to her face and sobbed even louder than she already had been. Ron put his hand lightly on her back as he leaned down closer. She whimpered and shrunk down, but made no move to look up at him.

"Tammy, it's me..." he told her, unsure if she was even aware that it was him reaching out to her and not one of the men who had been trying to assault her. "It's Ron..." he spoke in an uncertain voice as he looked her over. He wasn't sure how to deal with this. Was it appropriate for him to offer her comfort? Or should he just call the police and let them deal with the situation? It wasn't like he and Tammy were on good terms right now... Maybe she didn't want him anywhere near her. He carefully put his hand on her arm, trying to get her to look at him.

He doubted Tammy would go down without a fight. The fact that these two men had her kneeling in front of them, barely even fighting anymore by the time Ron got there seemed to imply that they had either hurt her enough to make her fear worse pain would come if she fought back further, or at the very least threatened to."Are you alright?" he asked.

She shook her head and continued crying into her own hands as she shrugged away from his hand and curled further in on herself.

For a brief moment, Ron wondered if this was some sort of a trap. Tammy was known to do pretty insane things to get his attention... Surely she wouldn't have hired those men to help her stage this just to get him to finally pay attention to her, right? It honestly wasn't all that far-fetched. The things she had done in an attempt to get him to notice her in the past had sometimes been absolutely absurd, always ridiculous, often illegal, and sometimes verging on cruel. He couldn't help but to wonder.

As he looked down at her, however, it quickly became obvious to him that this was nothing less than genuine. Her dress was messily pushed up over her thighs, her hair was a mess, she had either faint dirt smudges or the beginnings of bruises on her face, arms, and legs, and her shaking sobs sounded very genuine. He had no doubt that she could pull off faking something like this, but her next step would have been to fall into Ron's arms and let him be her savior. She wasn't doing that part. If it had been for show, Tammy wouldn't be pulling away from him. He was here now, offering physical comfort, and she was rejecting it. She wasn't jumping on the opportunity to cling to him and let him hold her. She seemed very shaken and acted like she presently wanted nothing to do with Ron. This was real.

He sighed softly as he watched Tammy and contemplated his next move. She didn't seem to want his help, but he couldn't bring himself to just walk away. Whether she wanted his support or not, he wasn't going to stop offering it to her.

Tammy still knelt on the ground and shrunk down, making herself look very small as she sniffed back tears. She made no attempt to throw herself in Ron's direction or to even speak to him, but she did seem to be slowly pulling herself together. Her sobs were dissolving into occasional sharp breaths and sniffles and she had moved her hands away from her face. She still didn't look toward Ron. She just stared down at the ground in front of her as she wrapped her arms around herself and shivered.

"Are you okay, Tammy?" Ron asked again now that she seemed like she might actually understand what he was saying to her. She hadn't been outside with her attackers for all that long, probably just a couple minutes - five at the most... But that was more than enough time for the men who had followed her out here to do some pretty terrible things, and she certainly seemed traumatized. "Did they hurt you? Do you need to go to the hospital?" he asked.

Tammy hesitated for a moment as she shook her head, but still wouldn't look at him. "I'm fine. I'm okay," she spoke in a trembling voice. She was still kneeling on the ground and didn't seem to have any plans of standing anytime soon.

He leaned in closer so he could look down into her eyes, but she continued looking away, staring down at the ground. "Do you want me to call the police for you?" he asked as he stuffed his hand into his pocket and felt for his phone.

"No!" She raised her voice and finally looked up at him. She had tears in her eyes and her lower-lip was trembling, but she was clearly trying to remain stoic. "No police... I said I'm fine."

Ron frowned. She probably didn't want to talk to the police because she'd been arrested a few times and figured they wouldn't take her seriously. "They'll listen to you, Tammy," he assured her. "I'll make sure they do. It doesn't matter what you've done in the past. What those men did isn't okay. The police are obligated to deal with this if we ask them to. We should call them."

"No." Tammy shook her head again. "Nothing happened. I'm okay, not that it's any concern of yours. Mind your own business."

Ron sighed and looked down at her. "Oh, nothing happened, huh? That's why you're crying on the ground in an alley?"

Tammy stared back at him and frowned.

"If those guys hurt you, you need to go to the hospital and tell the police, Tammy. I'll go with you. You don't have to go by yourself... I'll make sure everyone takes you seriously. You won't be alone." Ron persisted. "You can't let them get away with this."

Tammy stared at him with tears in her eyes and for a moment seemed to be contemplating his offer. He could see in her eyes that something in her mind was convincing her to retreat away from him, and he knew she was going to decline a few seconds before she actually did. "No, Ron." She shook her head. "They didn't do anything. I'm fine. Just leave me alone." She shrugged away from him and dragged herself up to her feet. "They barely did anything, and it shouldn't matter to you anyway... I'm going home."

"Tammy, wait." Ron grabbed her by her upper-arm and pulled her back. "Please don't go..."

She let him pull her back, but stared up at him with anger, sadness, and what almost looked like fear in her eyes. Ron wasn't sure how this was going to end. He knew from experience that the more emotion either of them showed the other - no matter what emotion it was, the more likely they were going to do something he at least would later regret. What he saw in Tammy's eyes right now were emotions he didn't often see in her though. This wasn't lust, rage, jealousy, or any kind of the usual cruel trickery. She was entirely vulnerable, anxious, scared, uncertain. It was unsettling to say the least. It made him not want to let her leave. It made him feel almost protective of her, which was a strange feeling, considering he was usually more focused on protecting himself from her.

As they stood silently in the alley, he stared back down at her, wondering what exactly he had wanted to ask her. He wouldn't make her go to the police if she didn't want to. He couldn't. She claimed she wasn't hurt... It seemed like she just wanted to forget all of this and go home. She was declining all of his offers to take her to the hospital or police. She'd declined several times even. What did he want? There wasn't anything else he could do at this point. It was her situation, and her choice how to handle it. Why hadn't he just let her go? She was alright... His part in this was over. He'd made sure those guys didn't hurt her any more than they already had. His obligation was fulfilled... But it was so hard for him to just let her go after all that. He didn't want her to have to go home all alone. She was so clearly upset, and in a different way than usual. She wasn't even taking advantage of Ron finally paying attention.

"What do you want?" Tammy finally asked with a pout after Ron failed to explain himself.

Ron shrugged, but kept his hand lightly gripping her arm. He honestly didn't know the answer to that question. He wasn't sure what he wanted. He just needed to know that she was alright. He didn't want to let her leave. Ron couldn't stand the thought of heading home and wondering later if she was at her own home, crying all by herself, or if the creeps who had hurt her would come back. She looked so vulnerable and scared. Even though she usually scared the hell out of him, he couldn't bring himself to feel that way about her now. Ordinarily, he tried to stay as far away from her as possible, but at the moment, he didn't want to let her out of his sight.

Tammy's facial expression didn't take long to morph into annoyance and anger due to Ron's silence and whatever she perceived it to mean. She rolled her eyes and scoffed as she attempted to pull her arm away from his hand. "Just leave me alone, Ron. I told you before I wasn't interested and I'm sure as hell not now. It's none of your business what I do. I had everything under control just now. I didn't ask you to come after me. I didn't need your help, and I still don't, so back off."

Ron exhaled and gripped her arm tighter. "Tammy, please," he urged. "I know you didn't want those guys to do that to you... I'm sorry that happened, and it's not your fault. You don't have to feel-"

"What I feel is none of your business," she interrupted. "You didn't want to be with me. I found some people who did. It's my business; not yours. I can do whatever I want with whomever I want."

"You didn't want that." Ron frowned and shook his head. "You didn't want those men holding you down, forcing themselves on you in a dirty alley."

"You don't know what I want, Ron," Tammy scoffed.

Shaking his head, Ron frowned. "I'm not stupid, Tammy. I could see what was happening... I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I don't care if you have sex with every man in town - just as long as it's consensual. What I just witnessed was in no way okay, and you don't need to pretend that it was. This isn't some kind of contest... I'm not trying to prove anything. I just want you to take care of yourself - and that means respecting yourself enough to do something about this. Those men were hurting you. You need to press charges. I can help you do it. I can stick by you every step of the way. I know we have a rough history. We don't get along... You scare the hell out of everyone you meet... But you deserve better."

Tammy scowled at him for a few long seconds before speaking up again. "I don't want to do this with you right now, Ron!" she yelled up at him in an angry, yet trembling voice and yanked her arm out of his grip and shoved her hand against his chest. She sniffed back tears and shivered as she crossed her arms over her chest. "This has nothing to do with you. It doesn't matter if I wanted them to do that or not. It's my business and only my business. I don't need you trying to make things right, acting like you give a damn now when you clearly didn't ten minutes ago. I don't want your help. I don't need it. I'm fine. They took things too far, but they're gone. Nothing too horrible happened."

"What did happen, Tammy?" Ron frowned. He didn't want to push this further than he should - Tammy was right when she said it wasn't really any of his business... but he certainly didn't want her to fail to talk to the police and regret it later when the evidence was gone. "You won't be able to press charges as easily later. Your bruises will fade... and if there's other evidence..." He paused and cleared his throat. "Well, if they-"

"They didn't," she interrupted with a scowl. "Nothing like that happened. They didn't do that. Ron," She sounded very defensive and her voice was shaking. Ron hoped that just meant she was in a sort of shock over having narrowly escaped such a fate and not acting defensive because she had endured it and hoped to ignore that fact.

"So what did they do?" Ron asked again. When Tammy hesitated, he continued, trying his best to reassure her that he was here for her in any way she needed him to be and that none of this was anything to be ashamed of. "It's okay, Tammy... Whatever they did, it's not your fault. There's nothing you could have done to warrant that response. You should file charges either way - whether they sexually assaulted you or physically assaulted you or somewhere in-between, they were wrong and should be punished for it."

Tammy shook her head. "They didn't rape me, Ron... If that's what you're asking." Her voice was low and she avoided eye contact with him. "They wanted to. They tried to-" Her breath caught in her throat and she looked like she was very close to bursting into tears as she looked down at the ground and hugged her arms around herself. She shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment before quickly re-burying her more vulnerable emotions under an angry glare. "It's really not your problem, okay? Just back off."

"Tammy..." Ron frowned and reached cautiously toward her.

"Don't touch me," she growled as she swatted his hand away and pulled her arms around herself again. "Just go..." she spoke an angry, yet shaking voice. "I'm done trying. You win, okay? You don't want me? Well, I don't want you either. And I certainly don't need you acting like you think you're my knight in shining armor, because you aren't. We're both adults. We don't want or need each other, so let's just leave it at that. I won't bother you ever again. Just get away from me."

Ron frowned. She probably wasn't really done trying to get back with him, but in this moment she had clearly given up. She looked entirely defeated and entirely devastated. It was true that he would have ordinarily loved to hear that she was throwing in the towel and would no longer pursue him, he couldn't let her leave like this, not now... Not after she'd just been attacked.

"Tammy, I honestly don't want anything from you," he assured her as he shrugged out of his jacket and handed it to her. "Put that on. You look like you're freezing."

Tammy pouted, but shrugged into the jacket. "I don't want anything from you either. I just want to go home." She frowned as her bottom lip trembled. It was unsettling and almost even heartbreaking to witness her feeling so obviously defeated.

Ron hesitated. "Don't take this the wrong way, Tammy..." he started. "And again, I don't want anything... There's no strings attached to this offer... But could I come back with you, just to make sure you get home okay? I don't think you should be alone right now and I really don't think you should drive yourself. You're clearly upset and I think you're fairly drunk too."

Tammy looked skeptical as she stared up at him with narrowed eyes.

"I just want to know that you're alright," Ron told her with a frown. Their relationship wasn't usually comprised of any other emotions beyond rage and lust, and they both knew that. Ron showing actual care for her well-being was strange. Even he acknowledged that fact. "Just let me drive you home. Nothing else. I promise. Just a ride home."

He couldn't stand to leave her by herself right now. As much as he told himself that she was a terrible person - as much as he wanted to believe he didn't give a damn about her, he knew that wasn't true. A part of him would always care about her - even if he didn't think they should be in a relationship, he didn't want her to face any kind of danger or pain. The thought of her driving herself home, probably crying on the way, and then going into her house all alone and having to spend the night with only her thoughts made him feel bad.

"Okay," Tammy finally agreed.

Ron nodded slowly to himself. He had kind of expected her to slap him or tell him to go fuck himself. He was honestly relieved that she was finally accepting his support. "Mind if we take my car?" he wondered.

Tammy shrugged and followed him to his car. He opened her door, allowed her to climb into the passenger side and closed the door behind her before making his way around the car and toward the driver's side door.

Even though he ordinarily was very careful to keep his distance from Tammy, he simply couldn't bring himself to send her off on her own right now. She needed someone to be with her, and as far as he could tell, she had no one else. As he climbed into his car, he could only hope he wasn't making a huge mistake.

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	4. Chapter 4

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CHAPTER 4

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Frowning, Tammy stared out the window of the passenger seat of Ron's car. He was taking her home - to her house, and even though ordinarily she would have been excited that she'd somehow convinced him to come back with her, she couldn't feel anything positive right now. She felt a sense of dread and nausea in her stomach, not the exhilarating, warm, fiery glow she ordinarily felt when she was in Ron's presence.

She was fairly confident that she could convince him to get back with her if she wanted to. At this point, he seemed to almost care about her, which would make seducing him easier than ever. After what she'd just experienced though, she didn't even want to try. She could hardly believe it herself, but it was true. She didn't want to do anything like that... Not even with Ron. Not right now.

Getting Ron's attention was one of her biggest goals in life. She wanted him to feel jealous and possessive and lustful and all the most damaging emotions that came along with relationships other people would consider toxic. That's what she had been aiming for tonight, but she had gotten something else entirely, something confusing. Ron was giving her attention, but didn't seem to care that she had nothing exciting and dangerous to offer back to him. He hadn't looked at her with lust, passion, anger, or jealousy in his eyes. He had looked worried - and not in the way she was used to. He hadn't been worried about what she was going to do. He was scared for her, not of her.

Tammy pulled the jacket he'd lent her closer around herself and glanced toward the driver's seat, where Ron sat. His eyes were on the road and he looked entirely serious. She wondered what he was thinking right now. Maybe she had made him jealous... Maybe he did expect something sexual to happen between them. She hoped not. For once in her life, she really just wanted to snuggle under a blanket and do nothing.

"Is it this one?" Ron asked as he pulled up in front of her house.

She nodded before realizing he couldn't really see her in the dark. "Yeah," she answered. He'd never been to her house before.

Ron parked the car and came around to her side, opening her door and offering his hand out to her. She hesitated for a moment before taking it and letting him pull her up to her feet.

They made their way up to the door, where Tammy paused and looked over toward Ron. "You don't have to stay," she told him. She really didn't feel like playing with him right now. For once in her adult life, she honestly wasn't interested attempting to get back together with him. Even though she knew it would be so easy to reel him back in at this point, she just didn't feel like doing so. She felt defeated and really couldn't bring herself to care.

"I could come in for a minute," Ron offered. "...If you want," he added after a small pause.

Tammy smiled up at him, but felt a hint of tears stinging at her eyes. She wished she knew what he was thinking. She did want him to come inside. She didn't want to be by herself right now... But for once, she really wasn't in the mood for crazy sex, which was usually the only way she could convince Ron to come anywhere near her.

"It's up to you," he said, apparently noticing the fact that she felt conflicted. "I'm not trying anything," he added. "Just if you want to talk, or just don't want to be by yourself, I can come in and sit with you for a while. Nothing more. I promise."

Tammy swallowed a lump in her throat. This was weird. Why did he want anything to do with her if she had nothing to offer back to him? If they weren't having rough, passionate sex, why did he even want to be there? He never seemed to want to be with her unless they were doing something very dirty, very stupid, very illegal, or some combination of the three. She was never able to lure him back with anything less than raw passion and insanity, and they weren't exactly friends even when they were married. Even during their best days together, they never really sat around talking.

He continued looking down at her, waiting for her answer. He didn't ask again. He just continued patiently waiting for her response.

"Alright." She finally nodded. She opened the front door and he followed her inside. "Do you want something to drink?" she asked.

"I'm fine," he declined.

She turned around and watched him looking around the living room. She didn't have much in terms of decorations. No family photos, nothing on the walls, really... just a sofa, a coffee table, and a shelf full of books. She'd never really turned this house into much of a home. "You can sit down if you want." She offered as she sat down on her couch. She didn't have any other chairs in the room besides the one sofa, so he'd have to sit next to her if he took her up on that offer. She wasn't sure if he would be willing to do that.

Ron slowly sat down next to her and appeared to purposefully keep his distance as best as he could. "You know you can get those guys in trouble for what they did, right?" he finally spoke. "I saw them too. I'll back up your story. We can describe them to the cops... The bar may even have security cameras. You don't have to let them get away with this."

Tammy sighed and closed her eyes. She really didn't want to deal with that right now. "I know," she told him. She opened her eyes and stared across the room at the wall. She couldn't believe how awful tonight had been. What started as an attempt to win back the love of her life, even if only for one ill-advised night of passion had devolved into the most terrifying moment she'd ever experienced.

She knew the things she did were irrational and absurd. She was well aware of the fact that a lot of her ideas weren't exactly normal. Normal people didn't make out with strangers to mess with the head of an ex they knew full well was no longer in love with them. Normal people didn't put insane mind games above their own safety. A normal person wouldn't have decided that the chance of making their ex feel jealous was worth the risk of leaving a bar with two six foot tall strangers. She'd gotten them excited and then waited until she was alone with them in the dark before rejecting them. It wasn't a good idea, and she knew it... But she'd done it anyway, because she couldn't help herself. Insanity and jealousy won out over logic and care every day in her mind, especially when Ron was involved.

"I don't know what exactly they did to you, Tammy," Ron started, "and you don't have to tell me if you don't want to... but they shouldn't get away with it. You didn't deserve any of that, and they do deserve to face consequences for it."

"I told you already, Ron. They didn't do anything that bad. You scared them away before they could," Tammy told him.

"Tammy..." Ron stared at her with a somewhat shocked expression as he shook his head. "Even if they didn't quite get to the worst part, they still attacked you! I'm sure you didn't get down on your knees and have that guy holding you in place on your own. I'm sure those bruises up and down your arms, and on your jaw... those finger-shaped bruises on your legs... I'm sure all that didn't just show up on its own. They hurt you, Tammy. Maybe they didn't actually rape you, but they tried to, and along the way, they were violent and they hurt you."

Frowning, Tammy stared back at him. She was going to sort this out her own way. Ron didn't need to tell her that what Charlie and Max did was wrong. She knew it was. That didn't mean she wanted to get the policed involved. She could pay them back better by herself.

"And even if they didn't do anything that you feel is significant, they did try. They thought it was okay for them to force themselves on you, and they would have if the circumstances had been different," Ron reminded her.

Tammy shook her head. She'd already decided she didn't want to deal with this right now. "It's fine," she said. She didn't like what had happened, but she also didn't like the idea of going to the police. There were other ways to get even with people. She leveled the playing field without police involvement all the time. Those two guys may have thought they got away with assaulting her, but they'd learn otherwise soon enough.

"Well, it's not fine, Tammy." Ron frowned at her. "You're a deranged psychopath, but that doesn't mean people can treat you like that. There's nothing you could have done to justify what they did."

She nodded, but didn't respond. She knew the men who attacked her weren't justified in doing so. He didn't need to tell her that. But she wasn't going to do anything about it just yet. She'd settle it later. "Just let me sleep on it, okay?" She requested, mostly to get him to stop pestering her about it. She already knew how she was going to solve this, but Ron probably wasn't going to like her method, so she'd tell him a variation of what he wanted to hear so he'd stop asking. "I'll decide what to do in the morning."

Ron sighed. "Alright... I'm not trying to annoy you, Tammy... I just hate that they did that."

Tammy nodded and exhaled. She knew Ron was only trying to help. That was both comforting and depressing. Why did he want to help her? He hated her... It hadn't even been an hour yet since he'd painfully rejected her and told her to get lost. He wanted nothing to do with her. Everything he said to her was an insult. She couldn't understand why he would care if someone got away with assaulting her. She almost expected him to tell her she'd deserved it.

"Ron?" she spoke up in a small voice as she glanced over toward him and leaned back against the couch.

"Yeah?" He looked back.

"Did you find me on purpose?" Tammy wondered. "I mean, why did you go outside when you did? Were you looking for me?" She wondered if her plan had worked after all - not entirely how she had hoped, but still something worth appreciation.

"I was worried," Ron answered quite simply.

"You were?" Tammy wondered with a furrowed brow.

"Yes. I saw you kissing those two guys..." he started, "and I won't lie... I wasn't thrilled about that, but I was determined to not let you suck me back in. I did know why you were doing it - I knew you didn't really care about those men and that you were doing it all for show - to get me to notice and feel jealous. I forced myself not to care, because I didn't want to be with you and knew I couldn't tell you not to be with anyone else... but I got worried for your sake when you left with them. They seemed like creeps. I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"You did?" Tammy frowned. She felt her shoulders slump. The thought of Ron looking at her with anything other than jealousy, lust, or rage confused the hell out of her. She could barely believe he had made an extra effort just to check on her, that he'd come after her not in hopes of scoring a night of ill-advised passion, but just to make sure she was physically alright. Not many people on the planet had ever seemed to make such an effort with her in mind.

Ron leaned back against the cushion too and exhaled as he stared back at her. "Tammy... It's no secret that you and I don't exactly get along. You cause me more stress than literally anyone else on earth. But I'm always going to care about you on some level, whether I want to or not."

"Really?" Tammy frowned back at him. He certainly never seemed to give a damn about her before. But then, she was kind of harsh with him. Maybe she was just a difficult person to care about.

"Yes, really." Ron furrowed his brow as he looked at her. "Of course I care about you, Tammy. You piss me off a lot, and any sort of relationship between us seems to be doomed to be volatile and verging on abusive, both ways, but I'm always going to care about you. You make me excited, angry, jealous, pissed off, scared, numb, insane, and everything in between. It's not healthy, but it's worth something. I wouldn't ever feel that kind of twisted passion toward someone I don't care about on some level."

Tammy sighed and brought her feet up onto the couch cushion. "I'm sorry I'm so crazy, Ron." She frowned and shook her head. She didn't ordinarily admit to being anything less than sane, but deep down she knew her behaviors were quite often pretty absurd. It was sometimes just difficult for her to realize that fact until well after she'd done something completely messed up and scared the hell out of everyone around her.

"It's not all on you, Tammy." Ron shrugged as he put his arm over the back of the couch how he used to when they were married. It used to be an invitation for her to lean over and snuggle up against him. She wasn't sure if he intended for it to have the same meaning right now though.

Tammy swallowed nervously as she scooted over a bit closer. She really didn't want Ron to tell her to back off, but she also longed to feel his arms around her again, to make her feel safe and secure. She didn't need anything more than that right now. "I bring out the worst in you and I-"

"You can't bring out something that isn't there." Ron interrupted with a small smile and raised eyebrows. "You bring out my insanity, but you couldn't bring it out if it wasn't a part of me. You make me crazy; I make you crazy." He shrugged. "My crazy and your crazy combine to form something completely terrifying. It's not your fault any more than it is mine."

Tammy smiled back at him and slowly leaned against him. He didn't object. She laid her head against his chest and closed her eyes as she felt his arm wrap securely around her shoulders. "Thank you for coming out to check on me," she finally told him. He would never have any idea how grateful she was that he'd come outside when he did. "And for chasing them away."

"No problem," Ron spoke in a calm, low voice as he hugged her close.

"I was really scared, Ron," Tammy whispered. "I do really dumb things all the time... I do things even I know are insane. I knew it wasn't a good idea to go out there with them... I knew that. When I was out there and they wouldn't let me go, I was pretty sure no one was going to stop them..." She felt herself shaking slightly at the memory. The two men had been so strong, and so forceful. She wasn't even confident that they weren't going to kill her once they were done with her.

"You're safe now," Ron reminded her as he moved his hand softly over her arm.

Tammy nodded. He was right. She was safe, thanks to him. She closed her eyes again as she leaned against his side with her hands on his chest. She was glad he didn't seem to want to do anything crazy right now, because for first time she could remember, she didn't either. For now, this setup was entirely perfect.

She wished she and Ron could make things work between them, but she just didn't think she had it in her to be the person he wanted her to be. She couldn't help herself. He really did make her feel certifiably insane. Maybe they never would be together long-term. It simply wasn't meant to be... But in this moment, she felt what their relationship could have been if they each had the ability to permanently turn off the crazy that they brought out in each other, and it felt really, really nice. It was a relationship she would have liked, but not one she could honestly pull off.

It wasn't going to be like this forever. Tammy didn't work that way... That didn't mean she couldn't enjoy this feeling while it was here. She snuggled closer against his chest and smiled. Everything would stay the same - she and Ron weren't ever going to have the relationship he seemed to want and she knew it, but that was okay with her. She could keep chasing after him like a lunatic later. For now, she was going to enjoy just feeling safe and normal for once.

xxxxxx

THE END

xxxxxx


End file.
